Who Is Emma Jones, The New Small Enterprise Commissioner?

Emma Jones CBE, founding father of Enterprise Nation, has this week been appointed because the UK’s new Small Enterprise Commissioner.

The Workplace of the Small Enterprise Commissioner (SBC) was first established in 2016. It was set as much as deal with the difficulty of late and unfair funds for SMEs, and its impression on money circulation. 

Jones will begin the position subsequent week. She takes over from Liz Barclay, who has accomplished her four-year time period as the present Commissioner. Barclay was Startups 100 decide in 2023.

Small enterprise minister Gareth Thomas described Jones as “somebody who has lengthy championed small corporations and entrepreneurs throughout the UK. I’m assured that her ardour and experience will guarantee small corporations have a strong advocate combating of their nook.”

Who’s Emma Jones CBE?

Startups might already be acquainted with Jones’ work. After efficiently exiting her first enterprise referred to as Techlocate.com, a useful resource for buyers, she went on to discovered Enterprise Nation, a assist neighborhood of small companies and advisors, in 2005.

Over the previous twenty years, she has led varied initiatives designed to kickstart UK innovation. She joined the federal government’s entrepreneur collective, StartUp Britain, in 2011, in addition to the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce final 12 months. 

Final month, Jones introduced she would step down as CEO of Enterprise Nation, presumably in preparation for her new position as SBC. The previous CEO of Saga Media Aaron Asadi, has since been confirmed as her successor.

Commenting on her appointment, Jones stated she understood the challenges dealing with the UK’s 5.5 million SMEs, having skilled them herself firsthand.

“I do know the dedication it takes to start out and develop a profitable enterprise. Founders inform me they’re time poor and spending too many treasured hours on non-productive work like chasing debt. That is limiting their capability to concentrate on progress”, she stated.

“Via the Workplace of the Small Enterprise Commissioner, we are going to make life simpler for small enterprise homeowners by leveraging know-how to hurry up funds and entry to assist.”

What does the small enterprise commissioner do?

Because it was created 9 years in the past, the SBC has aimed to deal with late funds and unfair cost practices. Intuit Quickbooks analysis discovered that, on common, SMEs are at the moment owed round £21,400 in late funds.

It’s a specific situation for small companies. This group tends to have smaller money reserves to maintain them afloat. If a accomplice doesn’t pay them inside the typical 30-day window, this may have a knock-on impact by way of masking overheads, akin to worker wages.

The earlier SBC, Liz Barclay, arrange the Truthful Fee Code, a tiered award system for corporations that exhibit truthful cost practices. Corporations that pay at the least 95% of all invoices inside 30 days are licensed Gold. Thus far, 300 companies have signed as much as the code.

Later this 12 months, Whitehall will publish the outcomes of a public session on extra legislative measures to handle lengthy cost phrases.